“Death by Chocolate”

23rd May 2020

10.30 am BST

Join us for our matinee performance of Death by Chocolate. Join in with the fun as our live virtual interactive theatre is brought directly to your living room via zoom! Great educational tie-in oppportunities!

£3.00

Out of stock

Grab tickets for our 10.30am Matinee

Tickets cost just £3 per household.

Simply click on the ticket link to visit the Zoom webinar ticket site and check out using paypal or any major card.

THE STORY SO FAR…

Bonker Chocolates were at one time the best known chocolate brand in the world, renowned for its originality and flavour. Originally owned by the eccentric recluse, Billy Bonkers, the firm changed hands following a rather unusual competition thirty years ago and is now managed by Freddo Pail.

Although the factory itself has continued to produce interesting and curious tastes, the worldwide fascination for chocolate is not as strong as it was before. A rethink was required. A rethink, rebrand and relaunch.

Guests have been gathering all day for a spectacular press launch of a brand new selection of unique chocolates; a range quite unlike any other! However, before the launch party can get underway, disaster strikes! Mrs Pail, mother of Freddo and one of the executives within the company, is found dead, surrounded by chocolates.

The question is… who killed her and why?

We hope you’ve got your friends assembled and ready to join in!

If you haven’t gathered a team yet, then tell your friends to grab some free chocolate samples and their exclusive passes for the press launch! They better be quick about it if they want to join you – our events sell out fast!!

What will you need on the night?

You don’t “need” anything – but you may want to have:– a notebook and pen to hand– some snacks and drinks – a team to help you solve the case. Whether it’s just your family, or a group of friends on another video chat.

Remember – Zoom gets a bit cranky if you try to do too many things at once at the same time – so it’s a good idea to assemble your posse on another group ap e.g. Facebook messenger, houseparty, or whatsapp or have another member of the family signed into their zoom account separate to yours so you can discuss the case between all your friends as you as you go along.

If you think you’ll want to ask a question live – make sure you know how to work your webcam and have an operational mic.

How long will the evening last?

We’re aiming to wrap up within 2 hours. So make sure you give yourself enough time in to play and don’t have another place to be!

Meet the Suspects:

BILLY BONKERS – Executive Consultant

The rather eccentric ex-owner of the chocolate factory, Billy Bonkers was retained as an executive consultant when the factory was handed over to Freddo Pail following a competition 30 years ago.

Billy lives on the premises in a rather large candy mushroom within the grounds.

Along with Freddo and his mother, Billy Bonkers has continued to be involved in the production of all the confectionary recipes as well as any strategic decisions regarding the company. However, day-to-day running of the factory is entirely out of his control.

FREDDO PAIL – Owner of the Chocolate Factory

Freddo won the competition to take possession of the chocolate factory 30 years ago.

Since that time he has managed the factory with a considerable degree of success, launching new lines and keeping the factory workers safe and happy.

Keen to hand over running of the factory to his own children, Freddo has been looking for a suitable partner with which to achieve this. Sadly his very apparent need to start a family have put off some girls. His living arrangements – still with his mother and with an eccentric pseudo-father figure in a candy mushroom – have put off many more! His love life has been rather up and down these last few years.

KLAUS TUTITE – Food critic

A celebrated food critic, Klaus Tutite has made numerous television appearances and is well known (and disliked) within the industry.

Rumour has it that Klaus has retained a special relationship with Billy Bonkers since the factory competition all those years ago and although he didn’t win, he has been involved, from time to time, in product testing.

Klaus has been visiting the factory quite regularly recently. His frequent visits did not go unnoticed by food journalists who worked out that his regular visits could only mean one thing… a new product launch was imminent!

PANSY NOREGARD – Marketing director

Heavily involved with the marketing of the company and the first person anyone goes to before making any press release statements, Pansy has a fantastic head for business. She is very inventive with her marketing strategies and always looks to maximise any return on investment.

She’s also very attractive, which is probably why her office door is usually surrounded by several male staff waiting to see her!

Her one vice is gum. Ever since childhood she’s been addicted to chewing it and she still hasn’t shaken the habit. Her constant chewing means she’s still not well liked by Billy Bonkers but Freddo handled her original appointment and the firm has never looked back.

VERUCCA PEPPER – Celebrated journalist

Just as bad as she ever was with the ‘I want…’, ‘Get me…’ demands, Verucca Pepper is – underneath – a genuinely lovely person (honest!). She just knows what she likes, that’s all, and really there’s nothing wrong with that!

Her demanding nature has also proved very useful in her journalistic career, as she is able to wear down any interviewee in order to obtain a scoop.

Although she never married, she is really fond of Freddo and is keen to see him succeed. Her reports on the chocolate factory have always been restrained as far as public scandals go and she’s never aired any dirty laundry about the Pail family. Whether this is because they don’t have any, or is due to some loyalty to Freddo, no one knows.

WINNIE TIKKET – Personal assistant to Freddo Pail

An intellectual whizz, beguiling, and the perfect Personal Assistant, Winnie was a fairly recent appointment to the factory staff but has quickly made herself indispensible.

With an inside track to Freddo, all staff must ‘go through’ Winnie to reach the man himself for any decision making. This has caused some consternation amongst those on the staff who were used to Freddo’s more relaxed open door policies.

However, there’s no denying her efficiency has led to better production levels within the factory and has freed up Freddo’s time to be make more strategic decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will it work?

Over the course of an hour and a half we will be presenting a murder mystery play to you live on air.

Yes! It’s live rather than recorded. This means whatever happens, happens! It also means you can interact with the cast during the performance by asking questions via the text chat and they will respond to you!

There are three options available to you as viewers. You can ask a question (formal) you can chat via text chat to other guests and the cast. And you can “raise your hand” which we will ask you to do at the end when we get to “free style questions!”

The evening will break naturally into three sections. With two sets of pictorial evidence to review and three scenes where the cast share information with you. We will have two comfort break pauses and some time for you to draw some conclusions of your own at the end.

There will also be a live questioning session for serious sleuths who want to join us on the video feed to pose their own questions towards the end of the evening. We probably won’t be able to get everyone up – but if you want that chance – do make sure you’re dressed appropriately and that you have a webcam and mic that both work.

Can people see me?

No – don’t worry – no one else can see you. If you want to sit in your pajamas stuffing your face with Ben and Jerries ice-cream – no one will be any the wiser!

HOWEVER – there will come a point in the evening where we will be inviting people who are interested in being live on air to join us to ask questions. And if you think you’d like to do that, then be sure you’re dressed appropriately to the theme and sporting a great accent! We’d love to see you in costume! (Though it’s not compulsory!)

How will the solution be revealed and can we guess?

We will be asking for guesses at the end via a poll (that’s another thing you can do in the audience). Obviously when we run events live this is all rather more exciting as there are prizes too – but for the virtual performances we simply can’t do that so we use the poll to see how many of you guess right, and then provide the solution at the end.

Can I be part of a team?

It’s very difficult creating an audience feel when we’re all in isolation. But we really encourage you to build an audience of your own by getting friends along to the same event.

You will be able to chat openly via the text chat with people from other houses and other countries, but you don’t want to be revealing your hidden ideas like that – instead what we’d suggest is that you gather a group of friends via another chat medium like whatsapp, houseparty, googlehangouts or facebook messenger, or even have another device signed into a different zoom account so the two don’t contradict each other while the webinar is working.

By assembling a “posse” of your own in this way you get the experience of being in an audience as you’ll be able to chat with each other while the performance is acting out in front of you. It’s also a fun thing to do together.

Can more people sign up under my ticket?

Sadly not – the links are unique. They’re also unique to the email you used to sign up. So if you have another zoom account in a different email address make sure you uninstall zoom and reinstall it fresh before you try to access the webinar.

We often get a few people who can’t sign in as they signed up with a different email address or tried to get two people in on one ticket. Zoom gets really cranky if it thinks others are trying to access the private webinar.

Can I bring a friend?

Tickets sell out really quickly for our events, so if you want to collect some friends to play with – make sure you get them to sign up to the same event as you quickly!

Tickets are sold “per household” if you’re both in the same house and plan to watch the show on the same PC you only need 1 ticket.

Friends outside your house do need to sign up directly themselves to access the webinar.

If you want to pay for your friends ticket – you can do – just use their email on registration – and pay using your Paypal account. They’ll then get their own email to join!

Tech issues?

We would recommend you try signing in from at least 7.45pm. This gives you 15 minutes to do some trouble shooting.

Troubleshooting tips…

If you have issues getting onto the zoom webinar there are a few things it could be…

1) your zoom account may not be the same one you used to sign up – you will need to ensure you sign in with an account linked to the email you signed up and paid with. Sometimes people have two zoom accounts, or have the ap already installed and it confuses zoom if you have a different account registered to a different email address. If you aren’t sure, try uninstalling zoom, before clicking on the link in the email and redownloading the software. That way there’ll be no cookies causing issues for you.

2) zoom might just be “having a moment” and sometimes if you simply restart your PC it fixes the zoom ap. This happens ALL THE TIME! It’s not somethign we can fix, and we’ve no idea why turning the PC off and on helps. But it usually fixes it! That’s one of the reasons we suggest signing in early! It gives you a window to restart your PC.

3) you may have “shared” your ticket email with a friend. If you have, and they’ve signed in before you with that link then they have your place! Sorry – but that’s how it works. Every person needs their own ticket.

4) You might need a password – the password is provided in the invitation email. If you haven’t got it or can’t find it on the night – look there. It’s often located on that email in plain text near the link.

5) Try accessing the webinar on a different device. But make sure you shut the first device down before you do so the webinar doesn’t think you’re still in and trying access it twice.

If none of the above works – you can try calling us on +44 7985953768

I’m afraid we won’t answer the phone after 8pm BST. As at that point we’ll be working all the tech.We’ll ask you to try option 1 and 2 and 5 above. And other than that – we probably won’t have any other bright ideas – as the software is run by Zoom not us. So we probably won’t be able to help… but you never know…

If you can’t get in after several attempts and miss the event do let us know by email and we’ll refund your ticket after we’ve checked the zoom attendees list for the webinar. If someone else signed in with your account, the webinar will log their attendance.